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Office of the Deputy Prime Minister

Answer

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister pursuant to the answer of 9 February 2005, Official Report, column 1586W, on sand reserves, how much of the 3.2 million tonnes of sand released under the Lancashire Minerals and Waste Local Plan has been taken; what estimate he has made of how long the sand at the existing permitted reserves will last; whether a full survey has been carried out to establish the total sand reserves in Lancashire; and how much sand will be needed for the next 10 years for Lancashire in accordance with revised Minerals Planning Guidance Note 6. [217159] Keith Hill: None of the 3.2 million tonnes of sand required to be released by the Lancashire Minerals and Waste Local Plan has been extracted since the plan was adopted. All production has been from reserves which already had planning permission at the time of adoption. Two applications for sand extraction have been submitted recently and await determination--one is near St. Michaels on Wyre, in Wyre borough, and the other is at Adlington in Chorley borough. The existing permitted reserves of sand in Lancashire amount to £3.54 million tonnes. At the present rates of production, these reserves would last for seven years. Stage 1 of a Sand and Gravel Study, undertaken by planning consultants and the British Geological Survey on behalf of the Lancashire joint authorities, has recently been completed. It identifies potential areas of high grade sand deposits within the county for further investigation in stage 2 to be conducted later this year. The revised Mineral Planning Guidance Note 6 require the north-west to provide 55 million tonnes of land-won sand and gravel over the period 2001 to 2016. Lancashire's share of this total is 8.2 million tonnes, which equates to 5 million tonnes in a 10-year period.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

431 c347-8W;431 c346-7W; 217159

Session

2004-05

Subjects

Applications Planning permission Quarrying Lancashire Sand

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk